Flight Prices

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

Man of Honour
Joined
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Anyone know whats happened to flight prices literally in the last few days?

I've been doing the research for 2-3 weeks now for my next trip. Either June or Sep/Oct, New York or Miami. Consistently bringing up results in the £350ish range for New York and £400ish for Miami, direct flights with the usual big carriers.

Suddenly, as of this weekend, the prices have gone bonkers. So much so that when you do a Skyscanner or similar search now for New York, you get weird results like Iceland Air and Ryanair combination flights as the 'cheapest', and even these are well over £400. The cheapest direct flights now seem to be £480 for New York and a staggering £600 for Miami.

It just seems really bizarre. Nothing I can think of would influence price by that amount (Not oil price, or increased duty), and the fact it's cheaper to get a Ryanair flight to Berlin, then fly to Iceland, then fly to New York than simply get a direct flight on one of the highest volume routes in the world suggests something odd is going on.

Last year I paid £470 to go to LA - if I'd have got a move on and booked it this sort of time rather than in May it was £410, direct. Now it's more than that just for New York!?

:confused:
 
Sudden surge of tickets bought? I'd have thought as a flight is being taken up the prices would increase.

Edit - don't forget as well payday Friday was a few days back.
 
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Greenlizard0 said:
Sudden surge of tickets bought? I'd have thought as a flight is being taken up the prices would increase.
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Correct, could be surge in tickets due to time or year, or airlines doing "special deals" to try and sell seats, it might also be because of increasing prices for flights so people might be booking up before prices increase anymore?
 
Woah I was planning a trip to LA in July, been waiting for an inheritance to come through before booking flights. Return flight has gone up 480 since start of month :(
 
I once remember reading (though I could be wrong) this time of the year is when most people book their holidays. Just after their first pay check of the year or something like that!
 
JAzz said:
I once remember reading (though I could be wrong) this time of the year is when most people book their holidays. Just after their first pay check of the year or something like that!
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Yea, I was thinking something like this was probably the cause.

Although it's coming one day I don't think we've yet reached the point whereby an economy ticket to New York booked 9 months in advance in the off-season is 500 quid, so hopefully more sensible pricing will return..
 
Bumhug said:
Woah I was planning a trip to LA in July, been waiting for an inheritance to come through before booking flights. Return flight has gone up 480 since start of month :(
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Go Air NZ, quality airline and the best economy seat pitch out there!

Unlucky Fox, just keep at it or maybe wait for them to change again and come down (always the risk they will go up though).
 
-Ad- said:
Go Air NZ, quality airline and the best economy seat pitch out there!
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The problem with Air NZ to LAX is the flight timings there and back are pretty crappy - you don't get to LAX until the evening (Whereas Virgin get you there mid afternoon) and more annoyingly it leaves at 16:00 on the return flight, which pretty much writes that day off (Virgin leave at 9pm so you get a full day in LA before your flight).
 
Flight prices are priced in a really odd way. Basically, each time you search for a flight it registers that as an interest in that flight. The price of the flights are then modified according to interest. So you can actually increase the price of your flight by searching for flights!

Give it a couple of days and you'll probably find the prices have dropped again.
 
Try looking at prices at about 6am. Sometimes there can be a massive difference from the price at 6pm.

A lot of airlines had sales throughout January with a limited number of tickets in a particular fare class. Either all of these are gone or they have stopped selling tickets in that fare class as of a certain date. This isn't always advertised.

I noticed the rise too. I try to book my flights for the next 3 months ahead so I'm sorted up until April and need a flight in May. Last week I was getting some of the lowest prices I had seen for my route, around £430. Yesterday it was up to £500. I'm going to leave it another week then check again. If there's one thing I have noticed it's that air fares are up and down like a whores knickers. Airlines follow trends in people's spending habits. As has been mentioned, the end of the month when people get paid, especially January when people tend to book summer holidays is likely showing up on the radar for the airlines, hence the price hike.

One point I will make. If you see a sub £400 fare to the US, especially anywhere further afield than NY, take it. It will very rarely be cheaper. Check the prices again next week on Wednesday at 6am.
 
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Another thing. Check prices with a travel agency. Sometimes they bulk buy fares and are allocated a quantity at a certain price. This can make them somewhat immune to, or at least lagging behind price fluctuations.
 
Fox, do you have any miles with Virgin? if so check out the miles plus money section, you only need 2000 miles per person.

Can make for cheap flights. I don't like Virgin Atlantic, but keep booking them for this reason.
 
POB said:
Fox, do you have any miles with Virgin? if so check out the miles plus money section, you only need 2000 miles per person.

Can make for cheap flights. I don't like Virgin Atlantic, but keep booking them for this reason.
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I do have miles with them, 2000 gets me about 40 quid off.
 
I am finding that the flights i was looking at to Melbourne with royal brunei air have risen by ~£150 over the weekend too.

Frustrating to have nearly booked them, and then not bothered, only to see the price increase like this. All we can do is wait and see what happens, prices seem all over the place.
 
It is the busiest time of year for the travel industry (last weekend being on of the busiest of the year)

Flight prices work on a class system, same seats just different prices.

For example they have 50 seats a one price, when they are sold it goes to the next price and so on.

There are exceptions to this rule, hence cheat last min seats from time to time, but as a rule the longer you leave it the more you'll pay.

Flight seats go on sat 10/11 months in advance so if you're looking for June July they have been out for a while and the prices are starting to go up.

Tax and fuel will also make a difference, a lot of companies are bringing in fuel supplements again.

Paulh's top tip: If booking flights to the states pay in full at the time of booking, if you don't and only pay a deposit they will/can pass any increase in fuel/tax on to you. (this can still happen even if you pay in full but it is FAR less likely
 
As a general rule, the price does go up as the date gets nearer but that's not always the case. Prices often drop about 1-2 months before on trans atlantic flights.
 
Scuzi said:
As a general rule, the price does go up as the date gets nearer but that's not always the case. Prices often drop about 1-2 months before on trans atlantic flights.
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Its all done on how full the flight is, if it's full they wont go down, if they have lots to sell they will!
 
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